Evan Kassof / Anaïs Naharro-Murphy / Nicole Renna

Venue

Tickets: Select a date/time

The U.S. premiere of the opera Greenland by Evan Kassof, the 1939 Dreyfus film Refuge with live score by Joshua Hartman, and a contemporary cabaret each focus on the meaning and making of propaganda over the last century. Presented in artistic collaboration with 1fiftyOne Gallery. Come experience the Propaganda Machine.

$20 / 120 minutes

Founded in 2018 by Anaïs Naharro-Murphy, Evan Kassof, and Nicole Renna, ENAensemble focuses on making theatrical shows that have strong narratives, rich musical cosmos, and can trigger a laugh or two. ENAensemble engages culturally urgent topics by juxtaposing different styles, genres, eras, and modes of storytelling to create a constellation of perspective, empathy, and action. The ENAensemble team has a varied background, united by a love for opera and music theater. Soprano Anaïs Naharro-Murphy sings contemporary and classical opera, choral, and chamber music, and serves as the Artistic Director. Music Director Evan Kassof has written four operas and a variety of other dramatic and scientific works, and has conducted opera, symphonic, and chamber music. Director Nicole Renna is a performer of musical theater, opera, and cabaret.

The Propaganda Machine Show – ENAensemble’s first production – casts the chamber opera Greenland in a larger context of historical and satirical propaganda. The opera, with a libretto by the award-winning Croatian librettist Aleksandar Hut-Kono and music by Evan Kassof, sets a Leni Riefenstahl-like film director, her stuntman, and her cameraman on the glaciers of Greenland in 1940 shooting footage for a new Nazi propaganda film. They become trapped on the ice and fight over surrendering to US forces or waiting for German help to survive. At its core, Greenland’s characters all weigh the tension between making art and making propaganda.

The film 1939 Refuge was an artistic and political tool created by the New York Office of the Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign (SRRC) that shortened and dubbed a film by Jean Paul Le Chanois (alias Jean Paul Dreyfus) titled Un people attend. First screened in 2009 after thought lost, Refuge combines original footage, newsreel, and footage taken from a camera hidden in a grocery bag depicting the plight of the Spanish Refugees in France. The new score accompanying the film by Joshua Hartman reorients the intent of Refuge into an historical artefact, rediscovered with a particularly timely message.

Following the film and the opera, Nicole Renna’s cabaret features performances of propagandizing pop music rearranged into a rich satirical and poignant discourse. Together, these three works show the project of propaganda as the omnipresent, morally ambiguous machine it continues to be – always finding new ways to colonize artistic expression and deform artistic integrity.The Propaganda Machine Show will be embedded in a 1fiftyOne Gallery and Art Space show displaying propaganda-style posters carefully curated by Gus Gscheidle. This space’s unique design, content, and history provide the perfect venue for an immersive evening with The Propaganda Machine Show.